Whether you are a hair salon employee, a hair salon owner, or a regular hair salon client, sanitation and cleanliness of the hair salon should always be important to you. This is because bacteria, viruses and various other types of microscopic organisms could be breeding and thriving in the various implements, tools of the trade and in the premises of the hair salon itself without your being aware of it.

How simple is it to contract something when you visit a hair salon for a trim? The comb that is used to smoothen out tangles in your hair could have just been used on another customer who has lice, yet the hairstylist may not have had the comb washed and disinfected. The rollers that the staff may use to roll up your hair preparatory to setting so that you wind up with bouncy curls could have been used beforehand on someone with a catching scalp condition like psoriasis. And the towels they use to wrap your head after washing may have been used on another client – which is just plain disgusting.

So how do you go about inspecting the salon’s sanitation is a most secretive way can be? The following tips are helpful:

• 360 Fast glance around

You can double check the sanitation and cleanliness level of the hair salon you like to visit by just casually glancing around. And your first glance should be at the tray where they stack the tools of the trade (such as combs, brushes, scissors, rollers, and others). Do the combs and brushes seem to have other people's hair still stuck in them? Are they kind of oily? You might venture out a hand and rub a finger along a comb – if it feels oily, well, that is scalp oil from someone else (or a lot of other people) that you are feeling. A good salon will always make it a point to wash and disinfect such implements before using them on new clients.

• Talk it over

Check out the towels. Are they stacked neatly on a shelf? You might want to make discreet inquiries like "so who washes your towels?" in a casual way. Towels used by one customer, even for just drying that client's hair, should never be recycled for use on another customer without washing and drying first. Anyone who has learned gym jokes about fungus faces and other illnesses that come with sharing towels probably already knows that sharing towels is an excellent way to come down with something catching.

• Sneeze that hair out

You could also look at the hair accumulating on the floor – is it regularly swept up? Or do they let around five clients get haircuts first before they start sweeping the mess into a dustpan for disposal?

• Quality Check your hairstylist

Take a good look at your hairstylist too. Are his/her nails kept clean and tidy? Or are they long and kind of dirty? A hairstylist with dirty fingernails might have something catching living under those nails which could be passed on to you so if you spot that type of detail, say good bye politely and never return.

There are hair salons from hell and there are hair salons which are very diligent about practicing sound sanitation and cleanliness habits. Your best choice? The latter as your health depends on it.